In our time it has become accepted, and in many ways even expected, practice to rob the Gospel of its depth and power before presenting it either to non-Christians or believing church congregations. The professed aim of this evangelistic method is to present the Gospel in terms anyone can understand, but what happens instead is that God's Word is watered down, misrepresented or misconstrued.
Rick Brownell suggests we return to a theologically weighty presentation of the Gospel that not only encourages, but forces those who hear it to contemplate the depth and breadth and wonder of the God who saves. Recovering Our Lost Theology presents the central doctrines of the faith in non-technical terms without abandoning the meaning of those terms, or the often troublesome nature of God's behaviour.
It would be tempting for many authors to simply rant about the widespread cheapening of the Gospel. Brownell never betrays anger or rancor, however, instead urging his brothers and sisters to marvel at the holy triune God, to contemplate Him, and to share the truth of salvation and redemption to everyone they meet.
You won't find a lot of jargon here. Words like "election," "Calvinism," "sanctification," and others do come up, but Brownell isn't interested in aligning himself with a particular denomination—he's concerned with understanding the truth in Scripture. Without abandoning the wisdom of past saints, he urges us to "think theologically" in a world increasingly reluctant to do so.
This isn't an attack on anti-intellectualism, a defense of Covenant vs. Dispensational theology, or an orthodox doctrinal checklist. Brownell's love isChrist and the Good News of salvation, and he invites readers to engage the difficult concepts of Scripture, wrestle with them, and move (however infinitesimally) toward richer, more profound knowledge of the Savior than rejection of theology will ever lead to.
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